Cooking With Kids: Rotini With Turkey Meatballs

As my kids get older, I am beginning to learn more the importance of cooking with them. Today I am sharing our family’s favorite summer pasta recipe of Rotini With Turkey Meatballs and I wanted to share with you a fun way to involve your kids in the cooking process.

Walmart wanted to give us the chance to share about the Gourmet Garden herb line that you can find at your store. We are no strangers to the beauty of Gourmet Garden though and I guarantee if you open my fridge on any given day, you will find a tube of herbs in there.

There are several reason why I genuinely love these handy herbs in a tube. For us, it offers a little money-savings for seldom used herbs that need to be added to dishes. I hate throwing out herbs that go bad within a week where I simply need a pinch or so to create a dish. Garden Gourmet herbs last for up to three months, giving me the chance to make that dish many times over before I have to give my tube a toss.

The second reason I really love these herbs is because it is an easy way to bring your kids into the kitchen with you and get them cooking and spicing dishes with you, without ever getting out that knife and cutting board.

The bonus in all of this though is that these herbs are organically-grown and gluten-free; two things that we know are important to many of our readers!

Basically, we love them and have been true Garden Gourmet enthusiasts for a long time!

Throw on your mom’s apron, should you so choose, and let’s get cooking in the kitchen this summer with your favorite helpers. Both of my kids were very excited about getting to help make this dish since it just so happens to be our Dad’s favorite dish.

Meatballs are fun to mix, to shape, and…of course, to eat! We made our meatballs with Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage (we just remove the meat from the casing for preparation) and mix it up with breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, a little squeeze of ketchup, lightly beaten eggs, and the Garlic and Italian Herbs from the Garden Gourmet herb line.

Roll out the meatballs into roughly the same size shape and place them gently on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake these at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The size pictured above were ready in about 12 minutes.

Rinse four cups of cherry tomatoes and then (with mom or dad’s help) cut the tomatoes in half for the sauce.

Let the kids shape those meatballs while you prepare the sauce for the dish. I used the Garden Gourmet Chunky Garlic paste, the fresh tomatoes, and a little chicken broth to make a light summer sauce. If your kids aren’t a fan of the big tomatoes in the sauce, utilize an immersion blender or carefully pour the sauce into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the sauce back to the pan and slide your meatballs into the sauce until they are warm.

Prepare the pasta as directed on the packaging and drain.

Finish by tossing all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and add fresh Garden Gourmet basil in the dish and lightly toss until everything is incorporated.

Sometimes I forget how much fun it really is to cook with my kids in the kitchen and just how proud they are when they contribute to the dish. They couldn’t wait to show their Dad their meatballs they made and we all agreed that they were far more delicious than the ones I make by myself.

I hope you can get in the kitchen and mix up something delicious with your family and that our recipe offers some inspiration for your family cooking time together!